T is for Tributes, Treasures, Telegrams, Timelines, and Thanks

I perhaps was slow to realise this, but I have discovered that blogging gives me a mavellous opportunity to pay Tribute to my ancestors through profiles of my great grandmother Maria Danson, nee Rawcliffe, to my great uncle George Danson who was killed in the First World War, a week after his 22nd birthday, to my grandfather William Danson who won the Military Medal at Givency on the Somme, to my feisty Great Aunt Jennie, to the war time experiences of my father John Weston, to my uncle Harry Danson (right) who was evacuated at Dunkirk, to the talents of my mother and aunt - Kathleen and Edith Danson. I am proud to have done this.

Treasures of the Family

One of the many World War One postcards sent back from Flanders by my grandfather William Danson to his family back home.

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﻿﻿Do you, like me, gasp in amazement at the heirlooms that have survived down generations of ordinary families, as shown on TV's "Antique Roadshow" and "WDYTYA", or on blog postings. I marvel in particular at diaries, christening robes, and artist portraits. My heirlooms are much more mundane but still mean a great deal to me and can be summed up as stitching, paintings, and postcards, plus a copper kettle and teasets.

Telegrams. We perhaps associate telegrams from the past with dreadful news from war fronts. Here, however, I was lucky to find, after my parents' deaths, these happy momentoes from their wedding in 1938 and the time when they were separated through war in 1940.

Wedding telegram sent on the occasion of my parent's marriage in 1938

Sent by my father to my mother January 1940 when he was with the MInsitry of Defence in London

Travel is a sideline on family history whether we go exploring in the footseps of our ancestors or discover how our ancestors got about.

Timelines to me are an important feature of a family history narrative. I am a firm believer in setting our ancestors lives in a wider context of life around them - what was happening at a local, national and itnernational leve? I usully present this in the form of a text box in each chapter.

In 1846

when Robert Rawcliffe

married Jane Carr

àThe Preston to Fleetwood Railway was
extended from Poulton to Blackpool.àThe sewing machine was invented

àThe Irish Potato Famine reached its
height with one million people dying by 1851.

I have so much to be Thankful for in my family history activities.

Tracking down fascinating sources

Tracing new ancestors

The Tips, support and online friendship from fellow bloggers.

The Touching stories that I have come across.

The Topics that It has led me to further study on the ancestral Trailsuch asChristian, surname and place names, the role and status of women, the social conditions that our ancestors experienced.

So to summarise - Family History is Terrific sometimes Tantilizing, sometimes Thrilling, often Theraapeutic, andI have no intention of Terminating my interest.

With apologies for the odd spacing in this post. I am driven to distraction by the new blogger Interface. Still learning it!

Oh Susan you are so right about useing your blog to pay tribute to our reli's ... it is a wonderful means to be able to do so. Big or small teasures are still treasures, and they are priceless. So to have them is very special.

Thanks for articulating that by blogging and famiy history we pay tribute to our ancestors. It's so easy to forget just how important telegrams were years ago when many people didn't have phones and needed a speedy communication. I have a range in my own collection including one telling my husband of the birth of our first daughter -he was in PNG at the time. I'm enjoying your contributions to this series Susan. Thanks!

A wonderful bunch of T's Susan. Can relate to each of them 100%. Timelines & Treasures particularly resonate ..."Timelines" because it helps me better understand the lives of the Ancestors."Treasures" because of all the tiny bits & pieces, handed down, which contain all the memories of those whom have passed before. Thanks for another most enjoyable post Susan.

About Me

I have been interested in family history for years. It all began when I was allowed as a child to look through the old family photographs and memorabilia kept in a shoebox in the cupboard at my grandfather's house. That treat started me on a fascinating ancestral trail.